


Second Chance

by Stariceling



Category: Princess Princess
Genre: Established Relationship (later chapters), Hair, M/M, Ribbon Bondage, kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-10-21
Updated: 2008-10-26
Packaged: 2017-12-06 00:09:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/729449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stariceling/pseuds/Stariceling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From the start of their second year, Yuujirou has been acting strangely and it's up to Touru to get to the bottom of it.<br/>Established relationship in later chapters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nanashi_o](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Nanashi_o).



> For the first kiss meme. Though since we already saw their first kiss, it's a second kiss.

Touru expected his second year to be somehow radically different from his first. Maybe, he thought, he would even feel compelled to join the throngs forming around the new princesses. Apart from suddenly having more homework, more free time than he knew what to do with, and an unexpected sense of relaxation that came from no longer being an idol, Touru thought his life, at school at least, hadn’t changed all that much. There had been only one drastic change that was really bothering him.

Yuujirou had cut his hair.

When Touru had asked him about it, he’d only shrugged it off and said, ‘Since we’re not going to be princesses together anymore, there didn’t seem to be much of a point.’ Yet Touru was sure Yuujirou had let his hair grow that long before becoming a princess, so why get rid of it afterward?

The abrupt loss of that familiar feature prompted Touru to note a few other changes. Yuujirou would be his normal self, getting along perfectly well with everyone, and then all of a sudden he would change. Not drastically, not so that it was always immediately obvious, but suddenly Touru would realize he was being ignored. Yuujirou was rarely rude about it, but simply acted as if he had nothing at all to say.

Touru couldn’t be sure if it was him specifically, or if he was the only one noticing those antisocial spells because they were together all the time. They were still roommates, and when Yuujirou got into one of those moods in the evening the silence could become so oppressive that Touru had trouble concentrating on his homework.

After a few weeks Touru noticed that Yuujirou’s depression resurfaced every time Mikoto started talking about his girlfriend. He also found that if he made a point to distract Yuujirou with idle talk and acted as if he hadn’t noticed anything wrong, Yuujirou would recover relatively quickly. He could only guess that Yuujirou had some sort of girl problem, and was refusing to talk about it.

One evening, Mikoto ended up hanging out in their doorway, complaining about how some people hog the phone all night. Touru knew he just wanted to call his girlfriend so he could be the one tying up the phone line, but he didn’t say it. Yuujirou had already gone suspiciously quiet just from listening to Mikoto go on about phone privileges.

Of course Mikoto didn’t notice a suspicious lack of teasing–or knew better than to bring it up–and rushed off the minute he saw the phone was free again. He seemed innocently oblivious to the fact that he had abandoned Touru to deal with a sullen and silent roommate.

With a sigh, Touru closed the door behind Mikoto and turned to where Yuujirou was sitting. As expected, his friend was turned away from him, to all appearances completely absorbed in his homework. If he hadn’t been doing this on and off for weeks, Touru would have taken the straight set of his spine and shoulders to mean he was struggling with a homework problem and left him alone.

Studying the back of Yuujirou’s neck, Touru couldn’t help thinking that he was elegant, even when he was snubbing someone. He had to give himself a little shake to get himself to stop studying Yuujirou and just go talk to him. Otherwise he was going to have to put up with Yuujirou silently pretending he didn’t exist for the rest of the night.

“I can’t believe you didn’t say a word to Mikoto. He was really setting himself up for it,” Touru said, grinning at Yuujirou as if he didn’t know he was being deliberately ignored.

Yuujirou turned his head slowly towards Touru. His eyebrows were arched in feigned surprise, his eyes below them cool and unaffected, and his mouth set in an unamused line. His whole expression seemed to Touru to be as good as saying, ‘Oh, I didn’t see you there. Must be because you’re not worth noticing.’

“What is up with you lately?” Touru finally asked, “Did you get dumped or something?”

“And what makes you think that?” Yuujirou asked. His tone was cool, and quickly approaching cold. At first he had only been putting Touru off in a general way that was reminiscent of the queenly attitude that had always commanded others to admire him from afar. Now it was starting to get personal.

“You’re not going to confirm or deny it? Well, I always wondered what it would be like to try a little detective work.”

Touru leaned against Yuujirou’s side of the desk, practically between Yuujirou and his homework, and put his chin in one hand. If Yuujirou had a problem with him, then he was going to keep prodding until he found it.

“First of all, you were always calling me during break talking about things like movies you wanted to go see. I thought you always sounded so happy because you were having a good time with your family, but maybe that was your way of bragging. Then, the last time I called you it was obvious you were upset about something, even over the phone, but you wouldn’t admit it.”

Touru crossed his arms, noting that Yuujirou was staring straight ahead, avoiding his face entirely. He figured he was approaching whatever was bothering his friend, so he continued, “Also, every time Mikoto gets excited talking about his girlfriend you go all quiet like this. All I can think of is that it must be girl problems.

“And finally, why did you cut your hair?”

“I was just tired of being mistaken for a girl all the time. Are you done interrogating me?” Yuujirou’s voice was steady, with just a hint of derision in his tone. The queen was not amused, Touru couldn’t help thinking to himself.

“That’s not what you told me before. Besides, you’ve been out with me, so you’ve seen first hand that short hair doesn’t make a difference. I mean, if jerks are going to assume you’re a girl, they always did the same to me too.”

“Why do you even care that I cut my hair? You’re too nosey.”

“Hm? Can’t I be concerned when you act like you’re unhappy? You are my friend, after all.” Touru looked away briefly and admitted in a low voice, “And I guess I’m a little mad. If you had a girlfriend and then you spent all that time talking to me about various things but never even mentioned something big like that.”

“Believe me, if I was dating anyone you’d be the first to know.”

“Oh. Then what’s wrong? Did I do something wrong?” Touru was starting to get the idea that Yuujirou was mad at him specifically, though he wouldn’t have expected to get nothing more than a cold shoulder from Yuujirou when he was truly angry.

“You’re the one who said you wanted to hang out over the break.”

“What?” Touru blinked in surprise, not sure if this was an answer or if Yuujirou was changing the subject. Was he getting snubbed now because Yuujirou thought he had been snubbed earlier? “But you were always talking about wanting to go to the movies, or a new karaoke parlor or something like that. Before you said you wouldn’t go to places like that with me because they were date spots, remember?”

Silently, Yuujirou clasped his hands together, straightened his spine and lifted his chin. His entire posture reminded Touru of an unapproachable queen, but his eyes were also suspiciously bright with what might have been traces of unshed tears.

Everything clicked into place, and Touru suddenly felt ridiculous for not seeing things clearly before. “You didn’t have to cut your hair because of me. I never meant to dump you.”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve sometimes. How could you dump me if we were never going out?”

“No, I meant I would never dump you. If I knew that was what you were after, of course I would go out with you.”

Yuujirou’s eyes still shone, somewhere between tears and anger, but his expression started to warm. The cool, marble mask of the queen was starting to crack.

“Why couldn’t you just tell me how you felt?”

“I thought it would have been obvious by now.” Yuujirou crossed his arms as he berated Touru, his look of open challenge sweeping away that unapproachable expression, “Besides, I made a bet with myself. I wanted to get you to show a little initiative for once. In fact, I started out thinking I’d have to trick you into making yourself clear, since you avoid talking about yourself. Of course then you kept acting more and more like you didn’t even want to see me in person. So if you’re not going to be interested, why should I chase after you and beg? And don’t you dare tell me it’s unreasonable to want you to come to me for once. I was even the one who kissed you first!”

Touru couldn’t help smiling at this last outburst. Yuujirou was back to normal at last, his animated expression was exactly what Touru had been missing since the school year started.

Yuujirou’s cheeks flushed and he looked away from Touru’s face in sudden embarrassment. He quickly got to his feet, starting to turn his back on Touru again as he dismissed his own confession by adding, “Never mind. I’m over it already.”

“Wait.” Touru caught Yuujirou by the arm as he started to turn away, pulling him back. “You want proof?”

Without waiting for a response, Touru closed his eyes, clamped down on his nervousness, and kissed Yuujirou.

He missed the first time. He brushed a chaste kiss across Yuujirou’s cheek, then the corner of his mouth, before he finally cupped Yuujirou’s cheek to keep his face still and kissed him full on the lips. Velvety-soft, he felt Yuujirou’s lips part against his. Maybe it was surprise, or maybe it was encouragement, Touru couldn’t be sure. All he knew in that moment was how good it felt to match the movement, opening his mouth against Yuujirou’s and deepening the kiss.

The mere act of kissing Yuujirou seemed to overload Touru’s brain, so that when he drew back he was faintly aware that he would be completely defenseless to any barbed comments Yuujirou might care to make about his timing, or his skills. Luckily all he got in response was the feeling of Yuujirou’s cheek pressed against his, and a soft gasp in his ear.

“Convinced?”

“Not at all,” Yuujirou complained, though the smug sound of approval in his voice seemed to be as good as him shouting, ‘Yes.’ “You’ll have to do a lot more of that if you want to really convince me.”

“I think I can handle that,” Touru agreed.


	2. Bound up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They might not be princesses any longer, but Touru still loves seeing ribbons in Yuujirou's hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally had this separately, but I think it works better collected together with the first fic. I hope you will enjoy!

Touru hadn’t realized that he liked seeing Yuujirou’s hair bound up until after they had ‘retired’ from their princess duties. The elegance of his hair hanging straight, held in place only by a single loose ribbon around his head, or the unspeakably cute look of his hair pulled into twin ponytails decorated with bows. . . even playing the role of a princess himself, Touru had been a fan. He’d gotten used to it after seeing it day after day, and now he couldn’t help but think he’d taken it for granted.

Now that Yuujirou had cut his hair, Touru wasn’t sure he would ever get to see either look again. Asking him if he would grow it back probably wouldn’t work, since Yuujirou had told him last year that he wouldn’t be willing to cut his hair if a girl asked him to. Besides, asking would probably reveal his perversion of wanting to see Yuujirou’s hair bound up in ribbons again.

Yuujirou did seem to be growing his hair out again now that they had, quite literally, kissed and made up (and not stinted on the kissing since then, in Touru’s estimation). That would be nice enough, even if Touru doubted he would ever see one of last year’s princess hairstyles again.

Since he was resigned to never seeing Yuujirou in ribbons and bows again, Touru found himself struck speechless one night when he walked into their room to find Yuujirou with his hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, tied with a black ribbon. He was sitting on the bottom bunk, apparently absorbed in reading a book that Touru distantly remembered him borrowing without asking. The black bow in Yuujirou’s hair was enough of a distraction that Touru didn’t care anymore.

Yuujirou barely glanced up at Touru, until he noticed the star-struck stare on his face. Then his head came up and he propped his chin on one hand, studying Touru silently. His lips quirked up into a half-smile, so that his expression held equal parts amusement and curiosity.

Moving automatically, Touru crossed the room and knelt in front of Yuujirou. He tilted his head to kiss Yuujirou on the mouth, making one long, slow, thoughtful motion out of it.

“What was that look about before?” Yuujirou asked when Touru reluctantly broke off the kiss. “You’re not going to tell me you were mesmerized by my beauty.”

“Yeah,” Touru agreed thoughtlessly, “I think I was.”

Yuujirou blushed a brilliant shade of red, but he managed to keep his composure. “Well, at least you’re honest.”

“Mm-hm.” Touru agreed, giving Yuujirou a second kiss, hoping to distract both of them. He wasn’t sure if it worked on Yuujirou or not, but he knew the distraction didn’t work for him. Just because he couldn’t see the ribbon in Yuujirou’s hair didn’t mean he could forget it was there, tied in a generous bow just at the nape of his neck.

Giving in, Touru reached around behind Yuujirou, ran one finger up the back of his neck, and finally touched the ribbon holding his hair back. Silk, he guessed. Silk suited Yuujirou. It might have been a mere coincidence, a leftover from their time as princesses. He swallowed hard, wondering if the look Yuujirou was giving him meant he was found out and merciless taunting was immanent.

“I drives me crazy when it’s this length,” Yuujirou explained, “So I at least have to tie it back if I’m going to read.”

“But it’ll be back to normal soon, right?”

“I want it back to the length it was last year. Why?” Yuujirou’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, possibly because he wasn’t sure if Touru had meant long or short when he said ‘normal.’

“I liked it that way too,” Touru admitted.

In spite of his suspicious frown, Yuujirou allowed him a third kiss when he went for it. Touru ran his fingers thoughtfully over the ribbon as their mouths moved together. The velvety warmth of Yuujirou’s lips made a delicious contrast to the cool, slippery ribbon under Touru’s fingers.

He twined one end between his fingers and tugged, feeling the bow unravel easily. When Yuujirou’s freed hair slid over his fingers, it was at least as soft and smooth as the silk ribbon in his hands. The feeling of running his fingers through it prompted him to made a low noise of desire into Yuujirou’s mouth.

Yuujirou tilted his head down, breaking the kiss and looking Touru right in the eye. Touru could feel his face burn with shame as he took his traitorous hands away, bringing the ribbon with him. He clenched them on the bedspread, on either side of Yuujirou’s knees, willing Yuujirou to either understand or let it slide, but not to ask.

With a knowing smile, Yuujirou tugged the ribbon out of his hand and held it up to Touru’s face. He brushed it slowly back and forth across Touru’s mouth, tormenting him with the smooth feeling of silk sliding over his lips. It still carried the faint, sweet smell of Yuujirou’s shampoo.

“What is it that turns you on?” Yuujirou asked, cutting directly to the heart of Touru’s embarrassment. “Is it the silk? Or is it just ribbons in general?”

“Neither.” Touru swallowed hard as Yuujirou raised one eyebrow in disapproving disbelief. “It’s your hair,” he finally admitted.

“My hair?”

Yuujirou reached up to push his hair back behind one ear, and Touru followed the motion with his eyes. He parted his lips unconsciously against the ribbon, wanting suddenly to kiss the stray strands of Yuujirou’s unbound hair.

That seemed to make up Yuujirou’s mind. He took the ribbon away from Touru’s mouth, which only left Touru’s teased lips hungry for more contact. Yuujirou dropped his hands, gathering Touru’s hands into his lap and holding them there.

“As long as it’s _my_ hair,” he told Touru. The meaning of his emphasis was plain.

Laughing in relief, Touru nodded his agreement. Somehow, when Yuujirou said it like that, it didn’t sound quite so perverted. In fact it sounded quite reasonable.

He felt the cool kiss of silk twining over and under his wrists as Yuujirou continued to play with the ribbon. Then suddenly the silk tightened on his skin. Touru looked down in surprise, just in time to see Yuujirou tie his wrists together with the ribbon.

Touru lifted his hands and stared at the black binding around his wrists in confusion. Was this Yuujirou’s way of getting back at him for something? Tying him up with hair ribbons?

“As for me, I think it’s the silk that does it,” Yuujirou said conversationally.

Touru turned his stupefied stare on Yuujirou’s face. Nonplused by the look, Yuujirou hooked two fingers around the silk binding and pulled Touru closer. He gave Touru a confident smile, then ducked under his hands, coming up in the circle of Touru’s bound arms.

Touru opened his mouth to ask what in the world was going on, but before he could so much as squeak Yuujirou was kissing him. That was a very, very good thing, considering how much he had been wanting to kiss some part of Yuujirou. As Yuujirou kissed him and slid away enough to tease, and kissed him again, Touru found his brain shutting down, making it easy to just accept what was happening instead of over thinking it.

“Is this all right with you?” Yuujirou finally asked, once Touru’s brain had just about turned to mush. It wasn’t quite fair of him. Touru couldn’t have complained about anything after being kissed like that, but he was also sure he wouldn’t have complained too much anyway.

“More than ‘all right,’” Touru assured him. “Though I think we might need more than just the one ribbon.” Assuming Yuujirou had more. . . elaborate plans in mind. Touru thought this was probably a safe assumption.

“I think I can handle that,” Yuujirou purred.


End file.
